'This Week' Transcript: Karzai, Khan and Levitt

August 15, 2010

Page 5 of 16

AMANPOUR: Will the case against Mr. Salehi be allowed to proceed?
And will you allow the arrest and investigation of anybody who is
accused of corruption -- he was accused of soliciting a bribe -- even if
they're --

KARZAI: Absolutely.

AMANPOUR: -- your friends and allies?

KARZAI: Absolutely. Absolutely, ma'am. That case is already under
investigation. Questions are continuing to be asked, the investigation
is under way. Corruption should be handled most effectively and
dedicatedly and with a lot of pressure, but it has to be across the
board and apolitical and without vested foreign interest.

AMANPOUR: Mr. President, thank you very much indeed for joining us.

KARZAI: Good to talk to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

AMANPOUR: We turn now to the debate over the proposed Islamic
center and mosque near ground zero. Opponents say that it's just too
close to the site of the 9/11 attacks, though it cannot be seen from
there. It took an ABC News producer two minutes and 45 seconds to walk
from ground zero to the site of the proposed center. But the
controversy has raised profound questions about religious tolerance and
prejudice in the United States. And the backlash against Islam has been
seen across the country, with mosques facing protests in California,
Wisconsin and Tennessee. And some intelligence experts now say that the
backlash could also bolster extremists abroad, who wish to portray the
United States as anti-Islam.

And so, this morning we cut through the heated rhetoric and hear
directly from one of the leading organizers behind the Islamic center,
Daisy Khan, wife of Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, and also Rabbi Joy Levitt,
executive director of the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan, who is
an adviser on the project. Thank you both very much for joining me on
This Week.

Can I ask you first, Daisy, what has been you reaction? You haven't
spoken publicly. What has been your reaction to the last several weeks
of this?

KHAN: Well, we've been dialoguing with people. We've started
meeting 9/11 families. We've started meeting other groups who have
shown some concern. And you know, we've been bridge builders since
9/11, and that's what we do best, and that's what we've decided to do at
this very moment.

AMANPOUR: When you say you started to meet them, did you not meet
with families as you began to propose this Islamic center?

KHAN: Well, we have already been in touch with 9/11 Families for
Peaceful Tomorrows. So, they represent 250 families. We've been
working with them since 9/11. And so that group we have already worked
with, and several other groups, but since this concern was raised, we've
now started meeting with other groups privately.

AMANPOUR: Rabbi Joy Levitt, how did it come about that the two of
you were working together on this?

LEVITT: Well, we got a call from Daisy when they began to think
about this project, and said we want to build an MCC just like the JCC.

AMANPOUR: A Muslim community center.

LEVITT: That's right. And the JCC in Manhattan was imagined in
1990 and built its building -- actually we opened two days after 9/11.
And have been thriving; about 2,500 people walk into our doors every
day. We were really honored to be able to unpack what we've learned,
some of the things that we...

AMANPOUR: Well, what was it meant to be, the Islamic center? Is it
mosque with a dome and minarets and loud calls to prayer five times a
day? What is it?